Diner



Aug. 3, 1937.

B. G. HARLEY DINER 5 SheetsSheet 1 Filed June 4, 1954 INVENTOR.

BERTR N e. HARLEY ATTORNEY B. G. HARLEY Aug. 3, 1937.

DINER Filed June 4, 1934 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. BERTRON G. HARLEY BY mm ATTORNEY 3,,1937. B. G. HA\RLEY 1 2,089,058

DINER Filed June 4, 1954 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 I N VEN TOR. BERTRON 6. HAR LED! ATTORNEY Patented Aug. 3, 1937 ireo STATES orrice 4 Claims.

to make possible the preserving of all or major portions of the original building structure while enabling certain encompassing housing sections which go to make up the length of the diner to beinterchangeable in their relative positions lengthwise of the diner when it is desired to enlarge or remove the diner, or to rearrange or modernize its contained restaurant equipment. This has not been possible in diners as heretofore constructed.

A further object is to enable the roof part of one of the encompassing sections to be interferent encompassing section, and likewise to enable the wall and floor portions of any encompassing section to be interchanged with the wall and floor portion of a diflerent section. In this way, the relative positions of blank wall spaces,

windows, doors, chimneys, exhaust fan apertures,

plumbing pipes, etc., may be changed at will without ruining or requiring the reconstruction or throwing away of the old roof, floor or wall portions of the building with which the built-in restaurant equipment has been structurally as-" sociated.

A further object is to provide improved means for detachably joining separable diner sections so as to enable these sections to be taken apart as individual units and secured together again either in the same or in different relationship without requiring an extremely accurate lining up of the sections as is necessary where separate holes for tie bolts or the like must be brought into precise registering relation before the sections can be secured together. The improved joinder means are also such that any fastening bolts employed are relieved of shearing stress if 'one section should settle relative to its adjoining section. There is also permitted the taking apart and reassembling of the diner sections with minimum damage to the painted surface of the changed selectively with the roof part of a dif-,

movement of air within the diner from which results a quiet and improved method of ventilation without resort to forced draft machinery such as electric fans.

The need for the present improvements stands 5 out in relation to serious problems which have come to confront the manufacturers and operators of wayside diners. The early lunch cart was 1 not much more than a wagon on wheels constructed in long and narrow proportion. This 10 characteristic of shape has been maintained in the modern and more spacious diners partly because of the. greater ease with which one or two attendants can quickly serve meals at a long straight bar or counter.

Such bar or counter requires a complement of kitchen appliances and food preparing stations .arranged in along row paralleling the counter and extending along a substantial portion of-the length of the diner and usually erected against 20 the long rear wall of the diner housing. Kitchen equipment such as the coffee urn with its fuel supply and drain pipes, the gas stove with its fume gathering hood and outlet chimney, the hot plate with its smoke removing vent and 25 forced draft exhaust fan, require structural association with that portion of the housing in which they are located. Consequently such pieces of equipment cannot be separated from the housing without disrupting the latter and 30 leaving an unsightly condition requiring costly reconditioning or reconstruction to remedy.

Nevertheless, there is almost always desired a relocation of the component parts of the equipment when a diner is removed to a new location 35 or its length increased to accommodate businessv growth.' The location of doors and windows is sary to waste a large portion of the owners initial investment in the diner in making the required changes. The remedyfor these conditions provided by the present invention also provides relief from the restrictions set up by the laws of many states against the use of the highways for transporting a wheeled load of such large dimensions as the modern integral diner building, and the invention consists in features of arrangement and construction, as well as in certain methods, the details of which will be plain from the following description and accompanying drawings wherein:

Fig. 1 is a view of my improved diner in front elevation showing in full lines a small diner com- 2 Q a,oso,osa

posed of few sections and embodying the present improvements, and showing in broken lines the modified appearance of the diner when its length is increased by the addition of interchangeable 5 encompassing sections.

Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic floor plan suggesting one possible interior arrangement for the elongated diner of Fig. 1.

Fig. 34s a front perspective view of one en- 10 compassing end section, the interior equipment of which is indicated by broken lines.

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 3 showing an intermediate encompassing section.

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 4 showing another 16 intermediate encompassing section.

Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 3 showing the exterior of the other encompassing end section.

Fig. 7 is an enlarged view looking lengthwise of the diner and is taken partly in section on the 20 plane 1-'| in Fig. 1 and showsin a composite manner certain details of the interior equipment and those portions of the housing construction which accomplish ventilation.

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary view of the clear-story 25 structure and ventilation control transoms of Fig. 7 drawn on a somewhat larger scale and showing one of the transoms closed.

Fig. 9 is a view similar to Fig. 8 showing both transoms closed.

30 Fig. 10 is a rear perspective view of certain encompassing housing sections joined together, and is drawn on a somewhat larger scale than Figs. 3 to 6 inclusive, the wall portions of one section being omitted.

35 Fig. 11 is a cut-away perspective view on a much larger scale showing the means for joining the housing sections together and for covering and concealingtheir lines of joinder.

Fig. 12 is a view on a correspondingly large scale 40 showing parts similar to those of Fig. 11 and is taken on the horizontal plane |2I2 in Fig. 10.

The working equipment 45 A typical layout for a modern diner interior with its fittings and restaurant equipment is indicated in Fig. 2. A long bar or service counter I is flanked by the row of stool seats I i. In a small diner this counter and row of seats may 60 occupy nearly the entire length of the interior, whereas in larger diners, they may occupy only a portion of the diners length. Additional serving capacity is represented by the tables I! and seats l3 which are sometimes replaced by a second long 55 counter paralleling the main counter l0.

Extending along the rear wall of the diner, a series or row of food preparing stations is diagrammatically represented and may comprise from left to right, a work bench M with light so from window IS, a stove or hot plate It, a coffee urn unit ll, an ice cream station IS, a draft beer station I9 a dish washing sink 20, and a food refrlgerator 2i. Most of the foregoing stations do not require windows. Continuing to the right are two booth tables 22 with their seats 23, lounge seats 24, and lavatories 25, each preferably having window light.

Referring to Fig. 1, it is obvious that the purchaser of so small a diner as that shown in full 7 lines, would neither have room for, nor require.

the complete kinds and variety of food preparing and serving equipment indicated in Fig. 2. He might, nevertheless, and customarily does, start in a small way in a given location with, say, a 75 six section diner, a large part of whose length must be occupied by the counter and just a few of the most essential pieces of kitchen equipment. This equipment will include at least a stove or hot plate It, a refrigerator II, a coflee urn l1, and a work bench l4 preferably receiving light 5 r from the window ll. Figs. 7 and show that such kitchen equipment requires built-in structural association with the roof portion I as ulustrated by the chimney II, and with the side wall portion 8 as illustrated by the laterally pro- 10 jecting fan flue 21, and with a floor portion 1 illustrated by the plumbing pipe 28. It is noted that the showing of these parts in Fig. 7 is a composite representation, certain of the parts in I fact being located at diflerent points in the length 15 v of the diner. It is evident from these illustrations that in changing the arrangement of the equipment of a diner as heretofore constructed, the owner must leave the various pieces of kitchen equipment at their original locations in the length of the diner or disrupt major portions of the diner's housing construction.

The knock-down construction As a solution to these problems, the invention contemplates a building for housing diners comprised of a number of separable encompassing housing shells or sections which is possible because of the considerable length of a diner in comparison with its transverse dimensions. The separable relationship of these housing sections is shown in Figs. 3 to 6 inclusive. As there shown, the base corners of the sections are represented as supported by sills 29, 29, for which may be substituted, if desired, ordinary wooden beams. In some cases the channel bars or beams need be no longer than the individual housing section which they support, or may be omitted entirely, in which case the sections may be supported upon any level foundation represented by the brick work at in Fi l.

Corresponding plates may be employed at the top comers of the sections as shown at 29a, 29a, in Figs. 3 to '7 inclusive and in Fig. 10. If these T-channel bars are made continuous for the length of the diner, it will be seen that the roof, wall and floor portions of each section may in themselves comprise readily separable units so that the roof, wall or floor portion of one section may be interchanged with any roof. wall or floor portion'of a different section. Thus the diner building as a whole is comprised of small, easily handled, interchangeable units which permits a relocation of thesehousing units when it is desired to shift the lengthwise position of interior equipment structurally associated therewith.

The {cinder construction Any suitable means may be employed for detachably fastening together the separable encompassing housing sections of Figs. 3 to 6 inclusive, but I have devised a particularly convenient and effective means best illustrated in Figs. 11 and 12. These figures show that a small permanent space II is left between the adjacent edges of companion sections, which space will afford room for expansion as well as prevent the development of shearing stress {upon bolts 34 passing through the space 3| from the exterior to the interior of the housing wall. The adjacent edges of each section are flanked by a slightly projecting beadlike strip 32 which may be of wood or metal and secured to the section surface by screws 33 or otherwise. A shallow U-shaped, or curved back, channel strip 4i closely embraces the adjacent beads 32 of two companion sections and is clamped securely there against by the bolts 34, thus covering and concealing the joint between sections as well as looking them securely together. 5 Figs. 11 and 12 also show devices which may be clamped against the inner surface of the sections by nuts 38 on the bolts 34. Where the edges of two sections lying in the same plane are to be clamped together, these devices may conveniently take the form of simple washers 35. Where the edges of two sections are to be assembled in right angle relation the quarter-round comer post 36 may be employed and the interior clamping device may conveniently take the form of an 15 L-shaped channel iron 31. Hollow decorative mouldings may be employedto cover and conceal the nuts 38, such moulding conveniently taking the form of the strip 39 for co-planar joinder, or the form of the strip 49 for corner joinder. Additional details of the construction of a typical floor portion I appear in Fig. 7 which shows the transversely spanning joists 1a resting at their ends upon a portion of the same sill 29' as do the bottom edges of the upright wall sections 8 and the bottom ends of the corner posts 36. Holes 42 may be provided in the joists 1a to accommodate tie bolts.

Ventilating method and construction 30 The roof portions 9 incorporate a novel and improved method and means for causing the flow of wind outside the diner to ventilate the interior of thediner. For forming a dead air, and heat insulative space, the roof section 9 may be formed of two upwardly bowed sheet metal parts, 9a on the inside and 9b on the outside, held together and in their designed shape by the arched ribs 43 extending between them. Holes 44 in these ribs may accommodate tie bolts or other holding means for fastening two roof sections together. Special roof portions for the end sections are shown at 9'.

- Above the sheet of roof 9b, a clear-story 45 is formed by a shallow sheet metal cap, in the edges 45 of which windows 41 are formed which may be opened or closed by the transoms 49. Only those roof portions which are to function in the ventilation of the diner need be equipped with this clear-story. Although the top surface of the clear-story 45 is slightly bowed to improve its appearance, it is plain from Figs. 7, 8 and 9 that its curvature is considerably less than that of the top roof plate 9b so that there is formed between the plate 91) and the top of the clear story a passage for the wind which may enter the clear story windows from either side of the diner and flow out of the clear-story through the opposite window. This passage progressively decreases in area from either edge of the clear-story to the central portion thereof which causes the flowing wind to increase its velocity at the said central portion. Also at its central portion the passage formed by the clear-story communicates with a ventilating aperture 4'6 cut through the highest portion of the roof plates 9a and 9b which gives outlet for air from the interior 'of the diner. In

Fig. 7 it will be noted'that openings 48, 48, may

pulled by turning adjustment of the operating arms 53. These arms connect with the hand knobs 54 by a vertical shaft 56 having bearing inthe bracket member 56.

The ventilating operation A novel principle of ventilating action is accomplished by the foregoing construction in that the before referred to increase in the natural velocity of wind flow as caused by the continu- 10 ously converging walls of the clear-story passage, sufliciently augments the ejector effect oi. the wind flowing past the aperture 46 to cause a particularly strong suction which 'rapidly removes air from the interior of the diner so long 15 as both transoms are open. If the ventilating effect of the wind flow is oo strong for comfort,

the windward transom, alone, may be closed as shown in Fig. 8 and there will still be exerted some ventilating suction upon the aperture d6 20 by the action of the wind in passing the leeward window of the clear-story which remains open. If the ventilation is still too strong both transoms may be closed as shown in Fig. 9 which will completely check ventilation through the 25 aperture 46 and result in a confinement of hot air from. the diner in the clear-story space, which eflectively adds'to the ability of the diner interior to retain its heat in excessively cold weather. This improved clear-story construction is there- 30 by seen to assist in maintaining a comfortable condition of the air within the diner in both extremes of hot and cold weather. My improved diner is therefore universally suited for use in radically different climates because of thepres- 35 cut improvements.

No claim is made in the present application to the ventilating structure as this forms the subject matter of a separate copending divisional application. 40

I claim:

1. In building joinder construction, in combination with companion building sections designed to be detachably secured in coplanar, e dgeto-edge relation, clamp bolts respectively having 45 shanks adapted to extend between the adjacent edges of said sections thereby to act as a spacer separating said edges without piercing the sepbination with companion building sections de= 55 signed to be detachably joined in angular edgeto-edge relation, a post shaped and arranged to fill the corner space between the adjacent edges of said sections, clamp bolts respectively-having shanks adapted to extend between said post and 0 the edges of said sections thereby to act as a spacer separating said post from said edges without piercing the separated parts, and lock means adapted to be clamped by said bolts against the corresponding surfaces of said post and of said 5 sections and constructed and arranged to engage said surfaces in a manner to prevent separation of the sections from the post.

3. In sectional diner construction, the combination of a building section having a head extending along one of its edges, a companion section having a corresponding bead extending along its edge which abuts the edge of the first said section and is spaced therefrom, a channel member f rmed to embrace both of said beads in 7 a manner to hold said sections together, and a plurality of fastening devices arranged at inter- 10 abutting joinder edge. parallel beads respectively flanking each oi. said joinder edges on corresponding surfaces of the said building sections, a clamp member adapted to detachably engage both of said beads and to extend in longitudinal alignment with the abutting edges of said sections, and bolts penetrating the thickness of the sections without piercing the same to retain said clamp member in locking engagement with both of said beads.

BER'I'RON G. HARLEY. 

